Dr. Christoph Heichert

Christoph was born in Wuppertal and later raised in Bielefeld and Paderborn and then relocated to Erlangen, there he studied chemistry at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). For his diploma and PhD thesis he joined the Prof. Bestmann group at the FAU on organophosphorus chemistry and natural product synthesis.

He transferred to the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf in Dresden with a focus on 18F-radiolabeled peptide mimicries for the detection of pancreatic cancer by positron emission tomography and later to the Institute of Applied Photophysics and more later to the Chair of Organic Chemistry I at the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) mainly for the synthesis of functional dyes sponsored by industrial projects. Furthermore, he has been involved in the historical dye collection of the TUD for many years.

In the past, Christoph prepared dozens of aniline derivatives and heterocyclic analogues as starting materials to produce almost a confusing number of functional dyes. One focus was on the synthesis and reactions of N,N-disubstituted thiophene-2-amines respectively corresponding thiazole-2-amines towards electrophilic reagents. Some of these materials are currently proved as fluorescence probes for biochemical and biomedical imaging experiments at the Plietker group.

Besides his enthusiasm for functional dyes and going beyond the fundamental phenomenon of light and colour, he is also a great fan of nature, such as hiking, fishing and mushroom picking, respectively cooking delicate dishes from self collected naturals. His main focus of leisure times is the collecting and preparation of fossils and especially high quality minerals.